Richard dean



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD DEAN, OF CLEVELAND, OI-IIO, ASSIGNOR. TO JOSEPH B. MERIAM, OF SAME PLACE.

ARTIFICIAL ASPHALTUM AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 564,975, dated August 4, 1896.

Application filed May 11, 1893. Serial No. 473,848. (No Specimens.)

To all? whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD DEAN, of lleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Artificial Asphaltum or Pitch and Process of Making Same and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

My invention herein described relates to the manufacture of an artificial asphaltum or pitch of superior quality from the acid sludge produced at an oil-refinery, which has hitherto been a waste product worse than useless.

In the refining of petroleum oils by treating the same with sulfuric acid a black carbonaceous sludge is precipitated. Usually an apparent excess of acid is used, so that while some of the acid has entered into chemical combination with the hydrocarbon elements in various proportions this sludge is still permeated with a large amount of free acid, which to some extent may be recovered by first Washing it out with free steam and then evaporating the water from the dilute sulfuric acid which is thereby produced. It has not been found profitable to restore all the free acid therein existing, and the remaining product, which is usuallyknown as acid sludge, is so sour and corrosive that hitherto no practicable way has been discovered for utilizing it. It cannot be burned, and it would be a public nuisance to discharge it into any water-course. It is generally buried. The accumulation of this product about a refinery becomes frequently a source of great annoyance and expense to take care of it.

My invention herein described was the result of repeated efforts to utilize this product. I finally discovered that if to this sludge there be added about five per cent. of rosin or pine tar or an equivalent as a fluxing agent and the mass be digested in a still for several hours under considerable heat, the length of time being somewhat dependent upon the character of the sludge, the product, when drawn off and cooled, would be a beautiful homogeneous asphaltum, sweet and dry, having a conchoidal fracture, hard, lustrous and brittle, and a superior non-conductor of electricity, and quite similar to natural asphaltum, for use in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, paving and roofing compounds, electric insulating materials, 6:0. It is not simply a mechanical mixture, but a chemical compound, as in its properties it is entirely difiierent from any of the ingredients or from the average of all the ingredients.

It is understood that my invention and the process practically described in the above are not limited in the proportions of the ingredients nor in the degree of temperature, nor the length of time during which it should be subjected to heat, for by varying these conditions the product may be somewhat varied in some of its characteristics, especially in hardness and melting-point.

I claim as my invention- 1. The method of making artificial asphaltum, pitch or product consisting in subjecting the petroleum product known as acid sludge and a suitable fiuxing agent to heat sufficient to transform the mixture into a coherent mass.

2. An artificial asphaltum, pitch or product consisting of the product resulting from heating a mixture of acid sludge and a fiuxing agent, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification, in the presence of two witnesses, this 28th day of April, 1893.

RICHARD DEAN. I'Vitnesses:

O. H. Donna, WARD Hoovnn. 

